Another outstanding 70's band. Perfectionists to a fault. Master craftsman. Intelligent and ironic lyrics - these guys were like the greatest at utilizing different session man to give their songs greatness, texture, and most importantly complexity.

Aja, Royal Scam, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied all back to back album and all brilliant in their own way. I wasn't completely sold on them with their latest stuff but the genius and the craft was still there.

They lose points for not touring extensively - but in the 70's - they were very few artist who could dominate or bring home the hooks as good as Steely Dan.

I'd put them right up there with Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles for greatness and pop brilliance.

God..that's 2 in a row. Saw them in 1974 on the Pretzel Logic tour.....beach boys, complete with carl in a Lieasure suit jumper, opened for them (played "Trader", by the way and it was awesome..). The guy in SD who sang Dirty Work live was amazing...I think he was one of the horn guys. Sadly, they never came back around. Fagan and Becker were a GREAT team.

Was that Royce Jones - He was a black dude who sang live with the boys - Fagin was actually too scared to sing live!! Believe it or not.

I think that '74 tour had Skunk Baxter and Michael MCDonald too. Michael McDonald sang on PRetzel logic live in 1974. He sang the part "I stepped out on the platform and the man gave me the news...he said he must be joking son - where did you get the shoes....."

I have boots of the tour and it was phenomenal. They show some of that tour on "Midnight Special" re-runs on VH1!

The guy had a huge voice. The skunk was there in Columbus that night, but not McDonald. Fagan handled most of the vocal chores. It was a GREAT show, and the Beach Boys played a very long opening set. That concert was nearly 3.5 hours long. I remember because I didnt want to miss anything and i was swimming in 3.2 Stroh's.

I'm really anxious to hear Donald Fagen's new solo album, Morph the Cat. I liked the 2000 Steely Dan comeback album. (Two Against Nature) I don't think I liked it as much as Fagen's two previous solo albums, however. (The Nightfly and Kamakiriad) I think it had something to do with songwriting - it seemed a little too forced on Two Against Nature. (Trying too hard to sound ironic, etc.)

Since all of Fagen's solo albums are concept albums (Including the upcoming one), they seem to flow better than the two recent Steely Dan comeback records. I really liked all of Steely Dan's '70s albums, however. They all flowed quite nicely. (Especially Aja)

Love those Fagen and Becker guys ! All their 70's albums are excellent,
and I think AJA is their very best. My fave travck of theirs is not from AJA, though: Rikky Don't Lose That Number - how brilliant !

One thing though, I did not like their comeback album Two Against Nature.

Berkeleyan wrote:One thing though, I did not like their comeback album Two Against Nature.

I agree with you to a certain extent on that. Although I found it pleasant to listen to at the time, I don't think it holds up as well as Fagen's solo albums. That's why I have high hopes for Morph. I hope it holds up better than Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go.

Berkeleyan wrote:One thing though, I did not like their comeback album Two Against Nature.

I agree with you to a certain extent on that. Although I found it pleasant to listen to at the time, I don't think it holds up as well as Fagen's solo albums. That's why I have high hopes for Morph. I hope it holds up better than Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. Do you know when Morph the Cat is supposed to come out ?